A compendium of the principles of elocution

Front matter

SfiJSSSSc fnm uSwUMivr'aflB

mSffi floss "ft K <V ii\ nook iJLX

SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.

Preface

An author, sometimes writes a preface, for the purpose of informing his readers, in advance, what they will find, in the subsequent pages. At other times, prefaces are written, by way of apology, on the part of authors, for venturing to add to the number of works, under which, the press is constantly groaning. Mine, will partake, principally, of the latter character. To those, who are aware of the great number of books, upon the subject of Elocution, which are already before the public, some reasons for adding another to the list, may be deemed necessary. Such reasons, I will now proceed to give; and, perhaps, I can do this in no way, so effectually, as by reference to my own experience, as a teacher. Let the object, be an apology for the egotism.

When I commenced the business of teaching, now forty-six years ago, I soon became painfully conscious, of my want of ability, to do justice to my own conception, of the meaning and emotions of the authors I was using, as examples in reading for my scholars, to follow. If, occasionally, I succeeded in satisfying myself, I could not tell how those efforts differed from others, in which I had failed. When I heard another person, whose reading or speaking, was, in general, satisfactory, I might have tried to do the same, by mere imitation, as the

IV PREFACE.

parrot is taught to speak ; but, such an acquisition as that, did not satisfy me. I wished to know, how, his reading or speaking differed from that of others ; and this, he could not tell me, nor, could I discover.

At length, an edition of Walker's elaborate work upon Elocution, was published in this country. I procured a copy, and read it, with care, and with considerable addition to my stock of knowledge upon the subject. But, I also rose from its study, with the firm conviction (which afterwards amounted to absolute certainty) that, in a large part of the work, he was treating of that, which, he himself, did not understand. I procured Sheridan's work, a much less pretending one than Walker's, and studied it with decided advantage. But still, there was much that I wanted to know, about which, neither he nor Walker, gave me any information. I tried what I could make out of some of the itinerant teachers of Elocution ; but, generally, found them more ignorant than myself. Many of them had tried their fortunes upon the stage ; and, failing there, had taken up the business of teaching, as a substitute. Most of them could " tear a passion to tatters, to split the ears of groundlings;" but, they were greatly deficient, in the art of " holding the mirror up to nature." Some of them would talk, until you were tired of listening, about "abdominal muscles," "the voice from the chest," &c.; but none of them could tell you how to express any of the passionate emotions; or, if they attempted this, their language was an unintelligible jargon.

At length, I became acquainted with Dr. Barber, and took some lessons of him, upon Steele's rhythmical system. In many respects, he was the best reader, to whom I had ever listened ; and, his pupils, generally, improved greatly in power of voice. He did not, however, confine himself, in all cases, to his own marking of the rhythm ;

PREFACE. V

and such of his pupils as did so, acquired a very stiff and artificial mode of delivery, altogether at variance with good taste.

Through Dr. Barber, I made the acquaintance of Dr. James Eush, of Philadelphia, in 1826. I soon found, that he knew much more about the various functions of the voice, than any other person, with whom I had met, or, whose works I had read. I discovered that he was about to publish a work upon the voice, and determined to procure it, and make myself master of its contents, as soon as possible after its appearance in print. His " Philosophy of the Human Yoice," was published early in 1827 ; and I immediately essayed to carry out my purpose. This was, however, no trifling task. In the first section, I found a description of the musical scale, its notes and intervals. Of these I was totally ignorant ; and yet, I saw that I must understand them, before I could read the subsequent parts of this elaborate work. I succeeded in accomplishing this, without the aid of a teacher, by a process, which the reader will perceive, when he reads the first section of the following compend. I then went to work upon his subsequent sections, and found, as I progressed, that I was gaining the kind of knowledge, of which I had, for years, been in search. I made this work the basis of my mode of instruction, until I gave up the business of teaching, ten years after its publication. I believed then, and, I still believe, that whoever would teach Elocution thoroughly, should make the " Philosophy of the Human Yoice" the basis of his system of instruction. I will not say, nor does Dr. Eush pretend, that his book contains all that can be known, of the functions of the voice, in speech. But, it contains vastly more than all the works, upon the subject, that preceded it ; and, it indicates the mode of investigation, by which further discoveries, if at all, must be made.

1*

VI PREFACE.

But, the reader may inquire, if the " Philosophy of the Human Voice/' is all that you allege it to be, why should another book, upon this subject, be made ? A most pertinent question, that requires an answer. Dr. Rush's work (the fourth edition) is an octavo of upwards of five hundred and fifty pages. Much of it is occupied with reasoning, to show that the results, at which he arrives, are correct. In consequence of this, the work is too extensive, and too elaborate, for general use, as a text book, in our schools. What is needed for this purpose, is, a well digested compend of the results of his investigations, with examples for illustration. It is not needful, to burden the mind of the student, by arguments to prove that, which is already sufficiently established as truth. It would be well, however, for every one who would attain to a thorough understanding of the subject, after he shall have made himself familiar with its principles, to read the Philosophy, with close attention.

I have been waiting, for years, to see such a compend as I could approve. The Doctor, himself, has declined to undertake the task, but is willing that others, should make use of the results of his labors, for the purpose. A number have tried it; and, in my opinion, have failed of success] some, evidently, for want of a full comprehension of the original; and others, because their ambition, or their vanity, induced them to mark out new paths for themselves. Some are so brief, in describing the functions of the voice, and in making the application of them, as to be unintelligible to the student. It will, of course, be supposed, that I think I have done more justice to the subject. I certainly think so, or this book would not have been added to the list of manuals upon Elocution. Whether I am correct in this opinion, it is for others to say.

About one half of the volume, is taken up with an

PREFACE. Vll

exposition, of the principles and the elements of reading and speaking. The rest is occupied with a selection of exercises in reading and declamation. In making this selection, I have been guided in my choice, rather by what is good, of its kind, than by what is new. It should bo remembered, that what is old, to the teacher, is, generally, new, to the learner : and, further, that it is a matter of little consequence whether it be old, or new, provided that the style is good, and the thoughts and sentiments are adapted to our purpose. In teaching the art of reading and speaking, it should be our object to make the learner acquainted with those movements of the voice, which are employed in giving expression to all the different passionate emotions, as well as to mere thoughts or ideas ; and, to do this, we need lessons for practice, in which these emotions and these thoughts are best displayed. This has been my object, in making the selection. I have not overlooked the claims of modern compositions; but, I freely confess that my reading, has not led me to expect more success among the works of modern authors, than in those of Shakspeare, Milton, Cowper, Goldsmith, &c, among the poets, or Addison, Chatham, Johnson, Burke, Goldsmith and others, of former days, among the prose writers of our language. For these reasons, my selections have been made, principally, from writers and speakers, of former periods. I have examined numerous selections of reading lessons, in which the compilers, have overlooked the older writers, almost entirely, and selected from those of the present century. The results may have satisfied those who made the selections, but they fall very far short of what I want as a teacher of Elocution.

Some excellent persons, may object, that, in the first part, I have gone so frequently to the drama, for illustration of the emotions and passions. To such, I would

Vlll PREFACE.

say, we all know that many emotions and passions operate upon the mind, or the heart, and often break forth in language, which we cannot approve, as consistent with religion or good morals. But, the fact that evil passions exist, cannot be kept from the knowledge of youth; and, such being the case, it is by no means certain that injury results, from displaying before them, occasionally, and to a limited extent, the expression of such passions in all their native deformity. At all events, it seems to me, that a writer upon Elocution, would but partially perform his duty, if he passed over such passionate expressions, in silence ; and, if he is to give examples of them, he must frequently resort to the dramatists.

Many, who are familiar only with such punctuation, as our books, in general, display, may wonder what system I have adopted, both in the body of the work, and, in the reading exercises. Some of the sticklers for what they call grammatical punctuation, may be inclined to criticize mine, somewhat unsparingly. If they will read what I have said, upon the subject of pauses in discourse, they will find that I am a skeptic, in relation to grammatical pauses, caesuras, demi-caesuras, &c, beyond all hope of redemption ; and, that my object is, to lead off as many as possible, from, what they call, the true faith. They will there find, that I believe in no other object, in making pauses, in discourse, than that of enabling the reader or speaker to convey to his hearers, in the most efficient manner, the thoughts, he utters, and the emotions, he feels. If this be the only object of pauses, they were just as necessary, before Grammar was ever taught, as they are at the present day.

I have neither invented, nor adopted any new characters, to indicate the places where pauses are to be made, in reading or declamation. The old marks, serve, as

PREFACE. IX

well as others, to guide the pupil's eye to the places where he should pause, in reading; and his own judgment, or that of his instructor, must inform him as to the comparative lengths of those | pauses, and the accompanying intonation. It is most likely that some of the requisite pauses may have escaped me, in preparing the matter for the press ; but, I think, none will be found that are actually superfluous.

Of latter years, most of those who have published manuals of Elocution, have devoted a part of their volumes to the subject of Gesture. I have made no reference to this subject. I have omitted it, not because I consider an appropriate system, or manner, of gesticulation, of no importance to a public speaker, but, because I think the proper management and modulation of the voice, of vastly more importance, and, of itself, quite sufficient, to occupy a single text book. A thorough knowledge of the grammatical construction of the language, is indispensable to the finished elocutionist; yet, no one thinks of embodying a treatise upon Grammar, in a work upon Elocution. That is taken as a separate branch of study. So, I think, should be the general subject of Gesture. The latter, addresses the understanding, through the eye; whereas, the proper management of the voice, is tested by the ear, alone. A person, in declaiming, may attend, strictly, to all the rules laid down by Austin, in his Chironomia, and yet, be a very indifferent elocutionist. The same thing cannot be said, with propriety, of one, who manages his voice, properly, even though he stands erect, without movement of either hands or feet.

S. E. G.

Burlington, Nov. 1857.

CONTENTS,

PAET L

SECTION I. Of Sound 1

What causes Sound . 1

The Force, Pitch, and Time of Sound 2

What causes Difference in Force 2

What causes Difference in Pitch 3

The Musical Scale 5

Division of the String. 5

Second Series or Octave, how obtained 6

Notes and Intervals 6

Concrete and Discrete Lntervals 8

SECTION II. Mechanism of the Voice 8

Lungs, Bronchia, Trachea, &c '. 9

Respiration, or Breathing 10

Vocal Sounds 11

SECTION III. Elementary Sounds 13

Alphabet .* 14

Deficiency of our Alphabet 14

Division of Elements 16

Tonics, Subtonics, and Atonies 17

Length of Tonic Sounds. 19

xi xil , CONTENTS.

PAGB

Syllables without Tonics 19

Diphthongs 20

Difficult Combinations of Sounds 21

SECTION rv.

Force of Voice, &c 24

Force and Stress 26

Radical Stress 26

Radical and Vanish 27

Median, Thorough, and Vanishing Stress 27

Loud Concrete 28

Tremor of the Voice , 73

Crying and Laughing 74

Tremulous Scale 76

SECTION XI. Interrogation 76

What changes a Declarative Sentence, into a Question 77

Single Syllables made Interrogations 80

Different Classes of Questions 80

Mode of Reading Questions of first class 81

" " " second class 82

" " " third class , 87

SECTION XII. Of Pauses in Discourse 91

Defects of Old Rules and Practice 91

The Uses of Pauses in Speech 92

Pauses in Poetry 93

Rules for Pauses 97

Phrases of Melody, at Pauses 101

XIV CONTENTS.

SECTION XIII. Of Accent 103

Accent of Force, and of Quantity 104

Accents upon Vowels, or Consonants 106

SECTION XIV. Definition of Emphasis 108

Emphasis of Pitch 109

" by Discrete Skip 109

" by Concrete Rise or Fall , Ill

" by Waves 113

" in the Chromatic Melody 115

" by Stress 116

" by Aspiration 118

" by Guttural Vibration 120

SECTION XV. " by Pauses 123

" by Abatement of Voice 124

" by Emphatic Tie 125

" by Flight of the Voice 125

Reading Parentheses, &c 126

SECTION XVI. Vocal Signs of the Passions 134

General Observations 134

Whately's Notions 136

Walker, on Passionate Intonation 138

Passions indicated by Loudness 142

" " by Feebleness 142

" " by Quickness 142

" " by Slowness 143

" " by Quality 143

" " by Radical Stress 143

" " by Median Stress 144

" " by Thorough Stress 144

CONTENTS. XV

PAGE

Passions indicated by Vanishing Stress 145

" by Pitch 146

" by High Key 147

" by Medium Key 147

" by Low Key 148

11 by Rising Semitone 148

" by Rising Thirds, &c 148

" by Falling Thirds, &c 149

" by Wave of Semitone 150

" by Wave of Second 150

" by Wave of Third, &c 152

'.' by Unequal Waves 153

" by the Aspiration 154

" by the Tremor 154

" by Guttural Vibration 155

SECTION XVII. General Observations 155

On Articulation 157

On Key 158

On Time and Quantity 160

On Melody 162

On Chromatic Melody 164

On Tritonic Melody 166

On Interrogation 167

On Pauses 173

On Grouping 180

On Falling Concrete 184

On Passionate Expression 187

On Plaintive Expression 188

On Derision, Mockery, &c 197

On Joy 199

On Love 199

SECTION XVIII. Conclusion of First Part 200

XVI CONTENTS.

PAET n.

EXERCISES IN ELOCUTION.

PAGE

Astronomy, Lecture on J. Phoenix. 31

Alarmed Skipper J. T. Field. 40

Apple-Dumplings Wolcott. 42

Address to the Ocean ..Byron. 45

Adam's Morning Hymn Milton. 52

Apostrophe to Light Milton. 61

Antony's Oration Shakspeare. 79

Anthology, Russian Derzhavin. 123

Attainment of Eloquence Ware. 134

Account Current 148

Address to the Deity Mrs. Barbauld. 180

Adversity Gray. 204

Antony over Caesar's Body Shakspeare. 213

Address to the Deity ....Young. 232

Apostrophe to Greece Byron. 240

Battle of Waterloo Byron. 27

Barere, Memoirs of Macaulay. 53

Bozzaris Halleck. 57

Brougham and Canning 70

Battle of Warsaw Campbell. 75

Burial Service 100

Battle of Hohenlinden , Campbell. 140

Burial of Sir John Moore Wolfe. 142

Battle of Ivry Macaulay. 197

Battle-Field R. Coates. 206

Clarence's Dream Shakspeare. 26

Columbus, Reception of. Irving. 149

Cicero against Verres 153

Conversion of St. Paul Lyttelton. 163

Chameleon Merrick. 182

Child J.Baillie. 211

CONTENTS. XV11

PAGE

Close of Life Blair. 220

Creation to Praise its Author Ogilvie. 223

Cuckoo Cowper. 227

Dirge in Cymbeline Collins. 99

Douglas's Account of Himself. Home. 146

Decision of Character J- Foster. 187

Death of a Cat, Gray. 203

Discipline Cowper. 213

Elegy in Churchyard Gray. 126

Eloquence, Attainment of Ware. 134

Epiphany Heber. 143

Earthquake in Calabria Goldsmith. 219

Endeavors of Mankind to get rid of their Burdens Addison. 256

Falstaff's Ragged Regiment Shakspeare. 13

Fat Actor 36

Frost H. Field. 60

Friendship Cowper. 173

Fly and Spider 194

Fortitude Blair. 220

Friendship, Disinterested Cicero. 234

Gascon Peasant Wolcott. 116

Gummere, John W. J.Allinson. 160

Good Man's Comfort Blair. 226

Gray Forest Eagle A. B. Street. 247

Happiness of Temper Goldsmith. 3

Hamlet's Soliloquy Shakspeare. 67

Hermit Beattie. 77

Hamlet's Advice to Players Shakspeare. 107

Hyder Ali Burke. 144

Hare and Friends Gay. 167

Henry V. before Harfleur Shakspeare. 193

Hope R. Coates. 195

Isaiah, Thirty-Fifth Chapter 108

Isaiah, Fortieth Chapter 158

John, Fourth Chapter 119

Lochinvar Scott. 136

Lucy Wordsworth. 210

Militia-General Corwin. 6

Millennium Cowper. 21

Macbeth Shakspeare. 87

2* xvm CONTENTS.

PAGE

Milton, on Loss of Sight E. Lloyd. 97

Meeting of Satan and Angels Milton. 109

Mariner's Dream Dimond. 138

Maniac Lewis. 185

New England McLennan. 86

Old Cheese ..Dr. King. 17

Ode on the Passions Collins. 87

Othello's Address Shahspeare. 105

Old Oaken Bucket Woodworth. 190

On Prayer Montgomery. 250

Paper Franklin. 10

Pitt, Reply of 19

Paul's Defence 48

Passage of Rubicon Woodworth. 96

Pity, Good Gentlefolks MacKellar. 102

Prodigal Son 104

Psalm CXXXIX Ill

Pitt, Earl of Chatham Woodworth. 121

Poetry of the Bible S. R. G. 215

Psalm of Life Longfellow. 218

Quakerism Bancroft. 237

Report of an Adjudged Case Cowper. 12

Right to Tax America Burke. 39

Razor Seller, Wolcott. 68

Ring out, Wild Bells Tennyson. 148

Saint Nicholas C. C. Moore. 15

South Carolina and Massachusetts Webster. 38

Song of Moses 47

Satan's Soliloquy Milton. 48

Scene from Lights and Shadows Professor Wilson. 62

Street Scene Shakspeare, 82

Speech of Patrick Henry Wirt. 91

Sincerity Tillotson. 94

Satan, Sin, and Death Milton. 131

Speech of Earl of Chatham 189

Three "Warnings Mrs. Thrale. 72

Task, Extracts from , Cowper. 112

The Turf shall be my Fragrant Shrine Moore. 246

Vaudois Merchant Whittier. 161

Village Preacher Goldsmith. 201

CONTENTS. xix

PAQB

Winter Evening Cowper. 8

War Channing. 24

Wolsey, Downfall of Shakspeare. 191

Washington Bancroft. 242

What is Time? 252

War and Peace Barnes. 253

GUMMERE'S COMPENDIUM.